Going Under
by whovianonakayak
Summary: It was just a simple salt and burn. That is...until Sam goes under. Can Dean save his younger brother from drowning? And can he make it in time? WARNINGS: Rated T for slight language and dramatic story line. No specific ships expressed.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Stupid water. Did it have to be everywhere? Sam had water in his eyes, his mouth, his lungs. That thing dragging him down had one hell of a grip. Up until this point, the hunt had gone pretty smoothly.

"Sam! Come on," Dean called to him.

"Yeah, yeah," answered the younger brother. Grabbing the shovel from the trunk, Sam started off to where his brother was standing.

"They put the grave pretty close to where she died," Sam commented. It was true. Scarlett Hampton had drowned in a pond, not twenty feet from the tombstone.

"A little disrespectful," Dean reflected, burying the shovel in the dirt.

The brothers dug into the hard ground until their shovels hit something hard.

"Yahtzee," Dean said, "You go keep watch and I'll light up this corpse."

Sam nodded and headed over to the pond. No one was around, except for the houses across the body of water.

As Dean salted the body and poured gas on it, Sam looked out over the water. The night was cold with no wind. Everything seemed to be standing still. He didn't notice when Scarlett's glowing figure swam out from under the dock.

"Dea-" was all Sam got to yell out, before being pulled into the icy water. It hit him like a brick wall of cold. The tight grip on his ankle pulled him down fast. No matter how much Sam kicked, he could not make contact with anything. Any attempt at swimming up was worthless. Scarlett was too strong.

Sam had no time to take a deep breath when he was pulled into the water. That was evident now. His body struggled for air. Sam's lungs felt like they were twisting inside out. Not full thoughts could get to his brain. Ideas only appeared in spirts: 'Where's Dean?' 'Why can't I breath?' 'Where is this thing?' There was an intense pressure like he couldn't believe pressing down on his chest. Sam's heart had to stop. How was it still beating under the pressure?

The pond was a never-ending black abyss all around Sam. A small reflection of moonlight shined above his head, at an unknown height.

'Dean!'' Sam tried to scream. He wanted his big brother to dive down and save him. Suddenly, Sam had a terrifying thought: 'Had Dean even noticed Sam was gone?' The big brother's back had been turned when Sam was pulled under. For all he knew, Sam was still standing on the dock or had walked away. With this thought on his mind, the last of the air in Sam's lungs floated to the surface.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The sparks danced below his feet. Just a couple more minutes and Dean could smother this fire. Scarlett Hampton's ghost had been causing more trouble than she was worth. For two months, kids all around town had been disappearing near the lake. Why did ghosts want to kill people the way they died? You'd think that they would want to spare people -especially kids- from the terrible fate they suffered. Ghosts were just a bunch of speed bumps on Sam and Dean's road.

It was time. Dean used his shovel to move dirt into the hole. Soon, the last of the flames were out and the grave was filled.

"Ok, Sammy, we're good here."

Dean turned to speak to his brother- expecting him to be on the edge of the lake- but Sam wasn't there. Brow furrowed, Dean raised his shovel and made his way to the water. If anything jumped out, he would be ready to attack, like he always was.

"Sam?"

Oh, man. The shovel. Dean ran to the dock, where one of the two shovels they owned sat on the wood.

"Crap," muttered Dean. Where was his brother? He looked around him, only to see nothing. Bubbles. Just for a second, quiet, clear bubbles glittered the surface of the dark pond.

"Shit," whispered Dean. Sam could be under, or it could be a fish. He burned the bones, so Scarlett was gone, but where was Sam? He decided to call for Sam a couple more times. No reason to get cold and wet if his brother was on dry land.

"Sam?! SAMMY!" There was no response.

The decision was obvious. Throwing off his heavy jacket, Dean took one last deep breath and dived into the water.

Ow. Cold! The sudden change in surroundings made Dean release a breath. Now he didn't have a lot of air left. The older Winchester had dived where the bubbles had come up, so if Sam was under water he should have been right under Dean. So he swam deeper. There was no sign of Sam. With outstretched arms, Dean reached out for any tough of his Sammy. His boots were really heavy, making it hard to paddle out, but down Dean went.

Dean was getting panicked after about 10 seconds. His breath was running out and there seemed to be no bottom to the pond. Just then, Dean's fingertips brushed by something that felt like fabric.

'Sammy?' Dean's heart jumped in his chest at the thought. Dean made a fist and grabbed a handful of cloth. What he pulled toward him was heavy. And limp. With just a touch, the older brother knew that this heavy, free-flowing mass was his Sammy. Dean felt around in the dark, cold, waters and wrapped his arm around Sam's chest. He could feel long hair brush against his arm, which made Dean's

heart lurch.

'Oh, God. Sam,' was all Dean thought as he took those first paddles upwards with his free right hand and heavy feet. This boy was huge.

It took about ten more seconds to drag Sam up to where the moonlight was clearer and brighter. If it wasn't for adrenaline, Dean would be going limp like his brother. Carrying Sam was hard enough. What made it more terrifying and painful was doing so with no air.

'Come on, Dean. Just a little more. For Sam.'

Dean motivated himself. His brain and lungs were on fire, but his love and protective instincts for the youngest Winchester were stronger than the pain.

Finally, the surface. The hunter realized that the air was only inches away, as his fingertips were exposed above the surface with one last paddle. He burst above the water, taking in the most painful and satisfying breath of his life. He held Sam's head upright, wanting to get his mouth and nose above water. The dock's ladder was in sight. Using all remaining energy and dedication, Dean pushed over the metal structure.

Putting one foot on the bottom rung, Dean pushed himself up.

"Come on, Sam." The young man was totally limp in Dean's arms. With sagging shoulders and bobbing head, Sam Winchester looked and felt like a ragdoll. Lifting Sam above the surface faced a problem The water had helped Dean lift his brother, but air didn't provide the same luxury. The oldest tightened his grip on Sammy and slung the soaked, limp body onto the wooden platform.

They had finally made it. Dean pulled himself onto the dock and dropped onto his back. He took several huge, relaxing breaths.

"Fun, huh, Sammy?" Dean chuckled, still gasping. "Huh? Dude," but Sam wasn't breathing. "Shit!"

Dean was on his knees and right up near Sam's face in a split second. His hand went over the brother's mouth and nose, searching for a breath, but none came. Dean's fingers jammed into Sam's neck, searching for a pulse, but the wet, cold skin was still.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It had been terrifying, First, Sam couldn't breath, then everything went black. He had put up a fight, though. When Sam saw flames and sparks from behind, he knew that Dean had succeeded in burning the corpse. This joyous feeling was the last thing Sam felt before drifting into the even blackier blackness of unconsciousness.

The whole sensation was strange. First, Sam didn't know he wasn't breathing. It all felt like that layer of consciousness between awake and asleep. He could think, but it wasn't whole thoughts; just snips. 'Dean' went through his head a lot. The limp feeling of drifing to the pond bottom was replaced by a firm grasp adn then a solid structure. It was all very relaxing. Sam just wanted to leave the stress of the situation and drift deeper into sleep…

Then he was being inflated. Weird. And compressed. Weirder. Something did feel different. It was like breath was being pushed into him, but that couldn't be right. He was already breathing. Wasn't he? 'Of course I'm breathing,' Sam thought. 'How else am I alive?'

The young man drifted deeper into sleep. Ow. Something was pounding on his chest. A spark flew up Sam's spine and up into his half-conscious brain. His back arched in shock and then relaxed.

"Ow-" was all Sam got out, not even the 'ow' he intended. Suddenly, he was burning. His brain, lungs, and chest were all on fire. Water errupted from his stomach, coming up form the lungs. Sammy was a fountain. He could barely take a breath, as water spilled out. Hands yanked him up and turned him onto his side. This position was better, as he oculd now breath a bit.

All of this was a shock; the weirdest dream ever. Slowly, with heart racing, Sam drifted back into the cushion of unconsciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

As soon as Dean noticed the lack of both breath and pulse, he jumped to action. Sammy couldn't be gone.

Dean tilted Sam's chin up and commenced CPR. "One, two, three, four, five," he counted as his hands compressed Sam's chest.

This couldn't happen, not this way. It was just supposed to be a simple salt and burn.

Minutes passed and Sam wouldn't breath on his own.

"Damn it, Sam," Dean told his brother's limp form, "Now's not the time to be a hard-ass."

Hope was fading. It was hard to look at Sammy just lying there. He looked so relaxed, almost asleep.

"Come on!" Dean punched Sam's chest, just wanting one beat, one breath. He repeated this act of anger for several more punches.

Suddenly, the younger brother's body jolted upward, spine arching. Dean's ears filled with the glorious sounds of Sam hacking and coughing. Water was pouring out of his brother. Dean turned Sam onto his side to aid his breathing. Sweet relief washed over the eldest, wanting to crush his brother in a hug, but that wasn't the best option right at that moment.

Sam's coughs slowed and his body relaxed back into a limp mass, laying on the dock. Only this time, the unconscious body was breathing. And that was all Dean wanted.


	5. Chapter 5

p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Chapter 5/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sam woke to the familiar vibrations of a motor and gravel road. He briefly remembered being drug under water until blackness creeped in./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
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p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sammy?" Dean's voice sunk into Sam's ears, as they adjusted to the noise./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""D'n?" Sam asked, for his brother. He felt like a little kid, wanting to know Dean was there when he was confused./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah, it's me. How you feeling?" Dean's voice was soft and encouraging. Sam didn't know really how he felt, to he told the obvious:/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""My head feels w'rd."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean chuckled from the driver's seat, apparently finding it a bit funny./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah," he said, "That's what you get when you go under water and pass out."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"So all of it was real? Suddenly more memories came back: being tugged off the dock, running out of air, and chest pain. Sam opened his eyes and turned to look at his brother./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"As Dean watched the road, red lines were visible around his puffy eyes. Had Dean Kick-butt-and-taking-names Winchester been crying? Sam's heart tugged at the thought./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""How long was I out?" Sam asked./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh, Sammy," Dean started, "You were pulseless and breathless for at least three minutes and have been knocked out for three hours./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The youngest's eyes widened./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I had no pulse."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean visibly gulped, "Yeah."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The two rode on in silence for a while, lettin the familiar U.S. backroad scroll past. After a while, Sam glanced at Dean./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thanks," he nodded./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""For what?" Dean asked./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Sam paused, "Getting me out. Making me breath."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dean nodded and smiled his half-smirk smile./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;""Just doing my job," he finally responded, "Just doing my job."/span/p 


End file.
